Equity Trust Co. v. Jones

• Decision Date: 19 October 2016
• Docket Number: A16A0813
• Citation: 792 S.E.2d 458,339 Ga.App. 11
• Parties: Equity Trust Company v. Jones.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

339 Ga.App. 11

792 S.E.2d 458

Equity Trust Company

v.Jones.

A16A0813

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

October 19, 2016

William Van Hearnburg Jr., Atlanta, Frances Floriano Goins, for Appellant.

William D. deGolian, Barbara Anne Marschalk, Vivian Bridges Fisher, Atlanta, for Appellee.

McFadden, Judge.

This appeal is from the denial of a motion to dismiss for improper venue. Because the trial court's dismissal rests on an erroneous legal theory, we vacate the order and remand the case for further proceedings.

Ronald G. Jones, II filed a complaint against Eddie L. Long, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Inc., Ehpren Taylor, Jr., City Capital Corporation, Robert Batt, and Equity Trust Company, alleging that he had been fraudulently induced into moving $60,000 into sham investments. Equity Trust Company moved to dismiss the complaint for improper venue on the basis of forum selection clauses in two contracts between it and Jones. A custodial account agreement provided that "[a]ny suit filed against [Equity] shall only be instituted in the county courts of Lorain County, Ohio where [Equity] maintains its principal office and you agree to submit to such jurisdiction both in connection with any such suit you may file and in connection with any suit which we may file against you." Similarly, a direction of investment form provided that "[a]ny suit filed against [Equity] arising out of or in connection with its role as custodian of the undersigned's Retirement Account shall only be instituted in the courts of Lorain County, Ohio; and the undersigned agrees to submit to such jurisdiction."

The trial court denied the motion to dismiss, reasoning that Jones had alleged sufficient facts in the complaint from which a jury could find that defendants Long and New Birth had a confidential relationship with Jones, that Long and New Birth unduly influenced Jones to sign the contracts, and that such undue influence was "sufficient to overcome the presumption that the forum selection clause[s] should be enforced[.]" The trial court issued a certificate of immediate review, and this appeal followed.

Georgia courts have

adopted the United States Supreme Court's ruling in The Bremen v. Zapata Off–Shore Co. , 407 U.S. 1, 92 S.Ct. 1907, 32 L.Ed.2d 513 (1972), that forum selection clauses are prima facie valid and should be enforced unless the opposing party shows that enforcement would be unreasonable under the circumstances. To invalidate such a clause, the opposing party must show that trial in the chosen forum will be so inconvenient that he will, for all practical purposes, be deprived of his day in court. A freely negotiated agreement should be upheld absent a compelling reason such as fraud, undue influence, or overweening bargaining power.

Houseboat Store v. Chris–Craft Corp. , 302 Ga.App. 795, 797 (1) (b), 692 S.E.2d 61 (2010) (citations and punctuation omitted). See also Iero v. Mohawk Finishing Products , 243 Ga.App. 670, 670–671, 534 S.E.2d 136 (2000).

Equity asserts that there is no evidence that the forum selection clauses were included in the contract as the result of fraud or undue influence on its part, and thus the clauses should be enforced. The parties have not cited any Georgia law on this particular issue and we have found none, but federal courts have addressed the issue. While we are not bound by federal case law, we find their reasoning on this issue persuasive and apply it to the instant case. See Wegman v. Wegman , 338 Ga.App. 648 (1), 791 S.E.2d 431, 2016 WL 5173049 (Case No. A16A0771, decided September 21, 2016) (where no Georgia law on point, applying persuasive federal authority to resolve trial court ruling on motion to dismiss under doctrine of forum non conveniens). See also Tolson v. Sistrunk , 332 Ga.App. 324, 331 (1) n. 3, 772 S.E.2d 416 (2015) (decisions of federal courts are not binding authority on this court, but their reasoning may be persuasive).

The United States Supreme Court has explained that a "forum-selection clause in a contract is not enforceable if the inclusion of that clause in the contract was the product of fraud or coercion. [Cit.]" Scherk v. Alberto–Culver Co. , 417 U.S. 506, 519 n. 14, 94 S.Ct. 2449, 41 L.Ed.2d 270 (1974) (emphasis in original). "A forum selection clause is viewed as a separate contract that is severable from the agreement in which it is contained." Rucker v. Oasis Legal Finance , 632 F.3d 1231, 1238 (IV) (11th Cir. 2011) (citations omitted). "A forum-selection clause is understood not merely as a contract provision, but as a distinct contract ...—that is, an agreement between the parties to settle disputes in a particular forum—that is separate from the obligations the parties owe to each other under the remainder of the contract." Marra v. Papandreou , 216 F.3d 1119, 1123 (II) (A) (D.C. Cir. 2000) (citation and footnote omitted). Thus, "[i]n order for a forum selection clause to be invalidated on the basis of ... fraud or overreaching, a plaintiff must specifically allege that the clause was included in the contract at issue because of [such] fraud [or overreaching]." Rucker , supra at 1236 (IV) (citation omitted). "Unless there is a showing that the alleged fraud or misrepresentation induced the party opposing a forum selection clause to agree to inclusion of that clause in a contract, a general claim of fraud or misrepresentation as to the entire contract does not affect the validity of the forum selection clause." Preferred Capital v. Assocs. in Urology , 453 F.3d 718, 722 (III) (2) (6th Cir. 2006) (citations, punctuation and emphasis omitted). "By requiring the plaintiff specifically to allege that the choice clause itself was included in the contract due to fraud in order to succeed in a claim that the choice clause is unenforceable, courts may ensure that more general claims of fraud will be litigated in the chosen forum , in accordance with the contractual expectations of the parties." Lipcon v. Underwriters at Lloyd's, London , 148 F.3d 1285, 1296 (III) (A) (11th Cir. 1998) (emphasis in original).

Here, the trial court made no findings as to whether Jones had sufficiently alleged or shown that Equity's fraud or overreaching had induced him into agreeing to inclusion of the forum selection clauses in the contracts. Rather, the trial court premised its denial of the motion to dismiss solely on findings that Jones' general allegations of fraud and undue influence by Long and New Birth were sufficient to invalidate the forum selection clauses included in the contracts between Jones and Equity. Such "mere allegation[s] of fraud in the complaint should not determine the enforceability of a forum selection clause." Picken v. Minuteman Press Intl. , 854 F.Supp. 909, 911 (II) (N. D. Ga. 1993) (enforcing forum selection clause where the alleged fraud attacked only the underlying transaction as having been deceitful, but did not attack the language of the contract itself). Thus, the trial court's order was based on a flawed legal theory that failed to determine the critical issue of whether the forum selection clauses were included in the contracts due to fraud or overreaching. Compare Brinson v. Martin , 220 Ga.App. 638, 640 (1) (b), 469 S.E.2d 537 (1996) (upholding dismissal of complaint for improper venue where "nothing in the record indicat[ed] that [employer] obtained [employee's] assent to the forum selection clause [in employment contract] by fraud or overreaching"). "Where it is apparent that a trial court's judgment rests on an erroneous legal theory, an appellate court cannot affirm[, and instead may] vacate the trial court's order ... and remand the case for [further] proceedings[.]" Nelson v. Powell , 293 Ga.App. 227, 228, 666 S.E.2d 598 (2008) (citations and punctuation omitted).

In so doing, we remi...